


Safety Net (Nostalgia Version)

by Takanos_Love_Butt



Category: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Genre: Coming Out, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23335807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takanos_Love_Butt/pseuds/Takanos_Love_Butt
Summary: This was another entry of mine for TakaRitsu week last year I think! The only real warning I have for this is that it deals with ‘coming out’ so yes there’s some very vulgar language and slurs surrounding what happens in that reality.  And I know this is a very touchy topic for many of us in the LGBT community whether closeted or not.  But other than that, it’ll leave you with a fuzzy feeling at the end I hope!  Enjoy!
Relationships: Onodera Ritsu/Takano Masamune
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Safety Net (Nostalgia Version)

Safety Net (Nostalgia Version)

August 2nd Day Three: Hurt/Comfort

**A/N: I know I’m SUPER LATE. But you try having a savage UTI that’s hella painful WHILE being on your period. Never fails, every time I’m preparing for a special event in the fandom, my body is just like: ‘NOPE. You’re going to be sick/in pain all that week.’ I hate my life. Anyway! The reason this is called the Nostalgia Version is because I wrote a hurt/comfort fic by the same name for the Trifecta pairing during Trifiesta 2017! ^_^**

It was October again and the days were neither too cold or too hot. Ritsu loved to get out in such comfortable weather and thankfully the cycle just ended so he got to enjoy a shopping date with his love of two years, Takano Masamune. 

“You sure do spend a lot when you’re in a good mood,” Takano commented seeing Ritsu almost skip in front of him. 

“I just love this weather and the fact that we’re done with another cycle! Lucky us, it happened to be on a three-day weekend!” Ritsu said excitedly clutching his purchases in his hands. 

“Yeah, you’re giddy with joy while my wallet is crying,” Takano chuckled as he himself had a couple purchases hanging from his wrist. 

“ _Our_ wallet, Honey. I believe we share a bank account,” Ritsu stuck his tongue out at him. It was one of the first things they did as an official couple. Get a joint direct deposit bank account. 

“Hai hai.” Takano just smiled at his boyfriend’s remark. He actually wanted Ritsu to officially move in with him as one of their first acts as official lovers, but doing that would involve coming out to his parents. Which was stressful even to think about. So they had to take baby steps when it came to that part. But of course Takano was just fine with their joint bank account and having sleepovers. _Many_ sleepovers. Sometimes even at Ritsu’s steadily emptying apartment. A lot of Ritsu’s belongings already found their way over into Takano’s apartment. 

The two managed to make it back to their apartment without making anymore detours into the shops along the Shibuya strip (much to Takano’s relief). “Ahhh that was so much fun! Thank you for taking me, Masamune…” Ritsu blushed as he offered his gratitude. 

“No problem. I know you really wanted some new clothes so…” there was a light pink tint on Takano’s own cheeks as he received Ritsu’s thanks. “We should’ve at least had dinner somewhere while we were out there though,” he said stepping off the elevator to their floor. 

“Yeah but I’m reaaaally craving your katsudon tonight!” Ritsu smiled waiting for Takano to unlock his door. He even looked toward his own door next to this apartment and pondered how cold and lonely his apartment had become since spending almost every night with his boyfriend. 

“Sure you just want me to slave over the stove for you…” Takano teased as he fumbled with his keys. 

Ritsu set his bags down and hugged him from behind. “What’s wrong with having a home cooked meal made by my love and made especially for me?” he purrs. 

Takano’s heart warms as he hears this. Even after two years he was _still_ getting used to Ritsu finally showing affection toward him. The chief editor turns around to capture Ritsu in a passionate embrace. “Just a little…”

Ritsu already knew that Takano had a sort of ‘kink’ for public displays of affection. He hated it himself and caused him to wonder if Takano was really Japanese. But over the past two years, he’d given in. Multiple times. He just figured his boyfriend loved to show off and regrettably accepted that as part of his personality. “O-okay…” The heavily blushing Ritsu nodded. Then the two had a nice little kissing session in front of Takano’s door with the smaller man even seeming to push against Takano a bit. 

At times like this, Takano would always remember how Ritsu wasn’t used to kissing him and always kept his mouth shut. Now, not only was Ritsu opening his mouth, he’d started trying to capture Takano’s tongue so he could give a light suck on it. Their kisses had become so euphoric that the world around them would just disappear. Yes...so euphoric.

“Ritsu?!” a voice sounded from the woman stepping off the elevator. 

Ritsu himself jumped and pushed himself off Takano as if he just got a rude awakening. “M--Mama?!” 

_Mama? So this is…?_ Takano went wide eyed himself. 

“Um...w-what are you doing here?” Ritsu said greeting his mother properly. His voice was shaking. There was no doubt about it. She caught him kissing another man and he knew it.

She was dressed rather classy and chic. Her make-up was pristine. Everything about her said she was from the upper classes. Not only that, but Ritsu bore a striking resemblance to her. There was no doubt in Takano’s mind that this truly was Ritsu’s mother. 

“I should be asking what _you’re_ doing…” she glared at Takano before turning back to her son. “I just wanted to come see you because you haven’t been answering my calls. Is _this_ the reason?”

Takano felt his heart jump to his throat. He himself wasn’t concerned about anyone finding out he was in a gay relationship. He had no family and the company he works for was gay _as fuck_ from what he’s heard through the grapevine. 

But it was a very different story for Ritsu. And he knew that. 

“U-um… Takano-san, I have to go home now...so uh,” one could hear the tremble in Ritsu’s voice. 

“Ah yeah, okay. I’ll just go put these away,” Takano said awkwardly as he grabbed all of Ritsu’s shopping bags and headed into his apartment alone. He did so rather quickly. The air was so thick it was choking him. 

The chief editor of Emerald went to his bedroom with Ritsu’s purchases and placed them on the bed. He then pulled the new clothes out of the bags so he could hang them up in the closet that was getting a little cramped as it now holds the clothes of two people. It wasn’t that long into their relationship that Takano found Ritsu had an affinity for clothing and fashion. He preferred the “Ivy League/prep” style that you’d find in Japan’s biggest fashion magazines. The clothing Ritsu chose always had Takano thinking ‘typical rich kid clothes’. Which he didn’t mind, it looked great and suited him. Takano himself going for a more classy chic style with most of his clothing being dark colors. 

He hooked the clothes on hangers and began to put them in the closet. It was then Takano began to hear yelling coming from Ritsu’s apartment. Most of the yelling was of course the female voice of his mother. Ritsu obviously isn’t the type to talk back to his mom. 

Takano went over to his bed to lie down. He kinda wished he had Sorata there with him right now for a bit of comfort. However, from the pictures Kirishima has shown him via texting, Sorata is having the time of his life with his adorable little girl. “Lucky old man,” Takano chuckles as he goes through those pictures again on his phone; trying to take his mind off the noise next door.

He hears more yelling from Ritsu’s place. “I can’t stand this.” Takano says getting up and out of the room so he doesn’t have to hear it anymore. Heading to the kitchen, he heads to the liquor cabinet and pulls out his bottle of bourbon with a small decorated glass. He takes a large bar-style ice cube from the freezer and prepares a drink. _Just one to calm me down._ He ponders as he knows he shouldn’t be drinking when stressed or depressed. 

But that yelling...and Ritsu finally being found out. “Ritsu, are you okay?” Takano said aloud to himself as he stood in his kitchen. Worry only growing the more he thought about it. “If only I hadn’t made you kiss me in front of the door. If only I had waited just a few more seconds…”

It was only natural to place the blame on himself as this really wouldn’t have happened if only he waited to kiss Ritsu after they got into the apartment. “I’m so sorry, Sweetheart…” he frowned with a heavy heart as he took another sip of his drink. 

It wasn’t too much longer before he heard a loud thump that sounded like a door slamming. Takano decided to wait a few minutes before picking up his phone to send a text. 

[Hey. Are you ok?]

[Yeah] Ritsu replied by text.

[Can I go over there?]

[You don’t have to. I’ll be there in a minute]

Takano topped off his drink before he heard Ritsu come in through the door. 

“Tadaima…” Ritsu said coming in. His voice seemed to carry a bit of weight to it. 

“Okeri,” Takano rushed to his genkan to find Ritsu trying to keep his face turned to the side a bit. But it was no use hiding the bandages on his cheek. “What happened to your face?!”

Ritsu chuckled but there was such a dark aura around his vague laughter. “Ha ha, nothing really. It’s just….Mama doesn’t love me anymore…” he said as he now looked Takano in the face. The fake smile on his face was enough to break your heart. “She just...got me with her diamond wedding ring is all,” 

“Oh Ritsu…” Takano exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding just seeing the band-aids on his love’s face. “I’m...I’m so sorry. If only I had just waited until we got behind the door…” 

“Stop...Masamune,” Ritsu cut him off. “Don’t blame yourself. It was only a matter of time before I was going to be found out and disowned, anyway. And you know what? I don’t care,” tears started to flow from his glassy eyes. “I was actually a little prepared for this. Because I’m _not_ going to leave you and marry An-chan. I’m _not_ going to leave you and marry anyone else she’s been trying to set me up with. It….was about time she saw that….I was tired of her doing that shit….”

Ritsu started to sob as he was talking and all Takano could to was hold his arms out to him. “Ritsu. Ritsu come here, Sweetheart…”

Ritsu fell forward into Takano’s loving, _supporting_ arms. 

/(^x^)\

Ritsu had been crying for a good hour. Takano had guided him to sit on his lap on the couch. The way Ritsu was seated was almost like his love was cradling him and rocking him back and forth. There were tons of tissues and tons of unneeded apologies being thrown, but all Takano wanted to do was be a safety net for his love that had just come out to his parents. Sure it was only his mother that knew now, but no doubt the news would spread to his father and anyone else in the family. 

Takano chuckled darkly to himself, _And here I thought way back then that he was loved and coddled growing up. What hurts is...He_ **_genuinely_ ** _thought his parents loved him all this time..._ Anger began to brew. Takano couldn’t fathom why they’d just drop their only son, only child, like that and just pretend he never existed.

They both jolted when Ritsu’s smartphone began to ring on the coffee table. Looking at the caller ID, it said ‘Dad’. Ritsu picked up his phone and pressed the button to ignore the call. “I don’t want to mess with them right now…” he said going back to being cradled in Takano’s arms. 

Though, it didn’t seem that Ritsu’s dad was going to give up on trying to make contact with Ritsu as his phone rang yet again. Takano, fed up, picked up his phone and answered for him. “Hello?”

Ritsu was already protesting him picking up the phone. “Masamune!!” he said in a harsh whisper. But Takano just couldn’t stand by and watch anymore. 

“Look. Ritsu doesn’t want to talk to either of you right now, so please stop trying to…”

“ _Wait please…_ ” the man’s voice on the other end sounded. “ _I know my son has to be hurting right now. Just. Please listen_ ,” he begged. His father’s voice didn’t seem angry. Not one bit. Rather it was full of sadness and concern.

“ _His mother....isn’t exactly mentally stable. I hoped to keep her condition from him, but in light of what just happened, I know she said or done some ungodly things to Ritsu when she got the news. I just want to deeply apologize on his mother’s behalf…_ ”

It seemed that Ritsu’s father did not share the same opinion on this that his mother did. Matter of fact, it sounded like he was far more concerned about his son than anything. “Um. I’ll...put you on speaker. He’s right here with me. And yes he’s very upset not wanting to talk to you two. But...you should be telling Ritsu this,” Takano said pushing the speaker button on. 

“Masamune, no!” Ritsu frantically shook his head. 

“Trust me, Ritsu.” Takano said in reply. They both leaned in so they could hear Onodera Papa on speakerphone. 

“ _Ritsu? Son. I’m sorry for your mother’s behavior. Please allow me to apologize for her. She was just, surprised, I guess?_ ”

After a moment of trying to bite back his anger, Ritsu took a deep breath. “Dad, she told me I’m not her son anymore. She told me I’m going to be disowned by the Onodera family. And she told me that she’ll make sure of..of that...” Ritsu could barely complete his sentence as he recalled those hurtful, toxic words thrown at him by his own mother. 

“ _I figured. I’m so sorry. But remember when you were little and Mama had to go away for a while sometimes?_ ”

“Yeah?” Ritsu replied remembering those exact moments perfectly. He would ask where his Mama was going because she wasn’t going to be back for a few days. His father had to take care of him all the while explaining that ‘Mama is just a little sick and she is going to the hospital ‘to get better’. 

“ _It was because she was actually going to be treated in a_ **_mental_ ** _hospital…_ ”

“Is that why we couldn’t visit her?”

“ _Well we could. But I just didn’t want you, as a young child, to see that environment. She had to be around people that suffered the same kind of illnesses. It was almost like a prison environment. That and I just didn’t want to expose you to just how sick she was. She’s on medication now. But they change, and even over 20 years later, they just can’t find a proper one for her…_ ”

One such was the life of someone who suffered from a mental illness. It was so complicated to work through so many different people that scientists can’t nail down any proper treatment for everyone who’s suffering. And unfortunately for a lot of mentally ill patients, their symptoms can have an affect on anyone that’s around them. They’ll snap at friends and family at the smallest triggers, regretting just a short time later that they didn’t mean everything or _anything_ they said and done. But it’s tough. Especially after the damage has already been done. Such is the life….

“ _I’m really sorry, Ritsu. Rest assured, I’m not disowning you. I couldn’t do that to my baby boy who made me so proud by just wanting to work in publishing...following in my footsteps. That alone is the greatest thing to make_ **_any_ ** _father happy. You don’t have to take over my company if you don’t want to. And I truly think that Isaka-sama’s own son and Marukawa is taking care of you better than my company could. That was why you left, right_?”

“Y-yeah…” Ritsu put out; absolutely stunned at the words he was hearing from his dad. “Um...does that mean you don’t mind me being….y’know...in a gay relationship?”

His father chuckled a bit on the other end. “I guess you can say….I saw it coming?”

“Huh?” Ritsu stared at his phone in Takano’s hand in surprise. 

“You used to talk about this boy you met in high school. You actually talked about him a lot and whenever you did, you had this look on your face. When I saw that and heard you talking about him so fondly, I knew that wasn’t merely admiration or ‘looking up to him’ as your senpai,”

“Oh my god. I...I didn’t talk about him _that_ much, did I?” the color drains from Ritsu’s face as now Takano is starting to gain this big grin on his face. _He’s not going to let me live this down…_

Laughter could be heard on the other end. “Yes, you did. I apologize if that’s not the same man that’s with you right now, but I guess you could say that was what tipped me off about you being gay or wouldn’t mind a gay relationship. So I’m not as surprised or shocked as your mother is right now. And to answer your question further, no it doesn’t bother me,” 

Though he was rather embarrassed to find his dad had suspected that all along, he actually felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders. “Thanks Dad. I guess Mom told you right after she got home, huh?”

“ _Well, when she came home in a huff, I asked her what was wrong. She screamed and I quote: ‘Our son is a fucking faggot!’”_

“Oh…” Ritsu only grabbed onto Takano even tighter hearing the savage language referring to him. 

“ _Son, please. I’ll talk to her. Just...we need to give her a few days, okay? I think she’s more mad at the fact you didn’t fall in love with someone she chose for you. Not so much the fact that you’re in a same-sex relationship. I’ll do my best, I know she’ll come around...just...just give her some time…._ ” his father pleaded on the other end. Though she was saying and doing some horrible things, his father still loved his mother and was willing to bow deep for her. “Please...don’t grow to hate us…”

Ritsu just smiled gently. “You’re giving your all to understand me. So I’ll give my all to understand you guys too. It’s only fair. And...I’m sorry, Dad. But I’m really tired and don’t want to talk on this any further, so…”

“ _I understand, son. Get some rest, I know this was hard on you. Just...please don’t disown me, too…”_

“I...I won’t, Dad I promise,” Ritsu said as he went back to nuzzling himself into Takano. “I’ll call you later when everything is settled down,” 

“ _I’m glad to hear that,_ ” 

“Oh and Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you…” 

He knew his father was smiling on the other end when he answered. “No problem. I’m anticipating your next call. And to the man that’s there with my son. Please take care of him. He’s a good boy and takes after his dad. I do hope to meet you one day. But please protect him,”

“I will. I promise,” Takano answered Ritsu’s loving father. Both smiling as the phone hung up with a soft click. 

Ritsu released a sigh. That was it. Today was his coming out. The weight is off him and he doesn’t need to hide anymore. “You know I feel 10 times lighter than I was earlier,” he commented gripping his partner a little tighter than before. 

“Your father sounds like a good man. No, _great_ man. I only wish your mother was just as understanding,” 

“Yeah, but…” Ritsu began. “I think he’s right. I don’t think she’s mad at the fact I’m in a gay relationship. More like she’s mad at the fact that things aren’t going her way… She was just saying all those slurs at me just out of spite,” 

“That’s still a pretty shit thing to do…” Takano scoffed. 

“I know, but...if Dad’s right about her being mentally ill, then we have to be patient with her. I remember those days when she had to go away for a while. She was sent to the hospital maybe every two or three years. I even remember when she’d be happy and energetic one day, then the next day she wouldn’t get out of bed,” remembering this really did help Ritsu get over the harsh words she used. 

“Sounds like manic depression or better known as bipolar 1?” 

“That could be what she has, yeah. It’s the first time I’m hearing about it,” 

_Right._ Takano pondered. _I remember his dad saying they tried to keep it from him…_

“Well then, how about we celebrate?” Takano said giving his love a squeeze. 

Of course this caught Ritsu off guard, “Celebrate what?” he said with an utterly dumbfounded voice. 

“Your Coming Out! You don’t have to hide anymore. You yourself said you felt 10 times lighter knowing it was off your chest,” Takano gave one of his rare smiles. 

“Yeah…” Ritsu’s face lit up. Even though there was a bandage on one cheek, a genuine happy smile came through at last. “Yes! That really is something to celebrate! So what should we do?” Ritsu laughed now going along.

“Well how about we go to a cafe and get a rainbow cake? I’ll even get the ingredients for your favorite lite cocktail at the liquor store?”

“You don’t have to go that far!” Ritsu laughed.

“Oh but I want to. Today is a very special occasion and you should enjoy it!” Takano nuzzled into Ritsu’s neck. “Oh...then maybe we could go to our favorite store to get you a new toy?” he purred. 

“You make it sound like I’m a little kid or something,” Ritsu chuckled in response. 

“Hah...but I know the toys _we_ play with aren’t for little kids…” Takano squeezed his lover tight. “Shall we go?” 

Ritsu smiled. “We shall…”

  
  



End file.
